Chams
Overview Chams, short for Chameleon (the changing of colors), is a form of hack, or wallhack, in which the Player can see through the wall. Enemies are brightly colored (some newer versions of chams show people as shadows) making them easier to see. A colour which is a single unichrome means the opposing player are behind a structure, but once it's a mix of two colors means that target areas are exposed. This also colors a bomb planted in Search and Destroy, Frag Grenades, and other forms of thrown items, Mines, or moving map objects such as the boats in Waverider. Chams is considered to be hard to report to Nexon, since Chams is only client-sided, meaning it is only visible to the player using it. Chams are quite common among the Combat Arms hacking community (esp. among high-ranked closet hackers) as it is rare to be banned or suspended while it is in use. Evolution of Chams Early 2009, the beginning of the hacking era, D3D Chams (shown in the picture) did not exist. Crude, low quality wallhacks existed. Wallhacks were not colourful; it was just the plain character model, made transparent and able to be seen through walls. This was the first stage of Chams. Soon, tutorials flooded online game forums and then wallhacks became a staple part of public and V.I.P hacks. Soon after though, Nexon detected the addresses and managed to patch the hacks during a monthly patch. During the middle of 2009; a few hackers have managed to modify the character textures via .rez modification. This produced a spin-off of chams called 'mini-chams' as it is not visible through walls. The player's advantage was slightly above average as the 'mini-chams' allows the player to notice players easily, especially in darker environments such as Rattlesnake and Brushwood. This lead to the development of the D3D Chams, which we refer to frequently. It consisted of drawing two contrasting colours (usually green and red or red and yellow) onto the character models and manipulate it to become visible through walls. This is the real chams. Although featured as a hack option, the true chams hack has been patched as of 2011, as they added in new character models. Glass walls was an alternative to Chams, as the code was easier to manipulate when the 1st Hacker War was waging. It is still seen in hack packages but yet again, is rare. The Fusion stage manage to supposedly patch the D3D chams address, which marked the beginning of NX Chams or Engine Chams. Instead of drawing colours onto the players, it uses the Satellite scanner's colours which outline the players through walls. But instead of being temporary, it can be activated for an indetermined amount of time. These chams could be utilized in different ways. Either the hacker injected extra files to activate the chams at a push of a button, or the player replaced the character models with the Satellite Scanner's colors through the walls by directly replacing the game's files with a version of the replaced file that utilized the hack (now a mod). Unfortunately, this method of using chams was virtually undetectable. The aforementioned method of NX Chams was patched at a later date. Players can no longer alter their game files, as the game will, after the splash screen, show a notice that the game files are corrupt. This patch correctly prevented this undetectable way of chams. Hacking the game had been relatively silent. However, some of the experts in game-modifying have figured out a way to bring back all the old, patched hacks. By reverse-engineering the game, one modder figured out a method to reverse the game's version. This means that all the old patches for the game will be reversed if the player chooses to. Patches that fixed chamming are not exceptions, and now advanced modders can utilize NX Chams. How to spot a player using Chams (or Wallhacks) are fairly common Hacks, which is used by many players in the community. It is client-sided and therefore hard to confirm that a player is using such hacks. However, it is quite easy to distinguish between chammers and strategic players. If a player were to somehow know the whereabouts of every single player, that person is most likely using a form of chams. While there is no solid evidence that the person is using the hack, their actions and movements may prove to be highly suspicious, but the player may have just been cautious or utilising a headset. The only way to deal with chammers is to kick them from the game as there is no on-the-spot direct evidence that suggests that the player is using chams. Trivia *Many people refer to hacks as "chams", though chams are actually a specific type of hack itself. Those who often hack are called "chammers" instead of hackers. *The Satellite Scanner is said to give "legit chams" as it lets the user and his/her teammates to get the same effect of chams except with a prechosen blue color, highlights of other people only restriction, and only for a small duration. *Players who use a headset are often referred to as 'Sound Chammers' as they can listen in on enemy footsteps and movements to predict the location of other players. However, this is a legitimate gaming tactic and not a hack. Reporting Hackers Every hacker should be reported, however make sure you are 100% sure that he/she is hacking before reporting. Helping a hacker or benefiting from a hacker is against Nexon's Terms of Service and is one way to get suspended and possibly banned from the game. Media Chams3.jpg Chams2.jpg Chams.jpg|a player using the old D3D Chams Category:Exploits Category:Hacks